Good Things, Small Packages
by Beacon
Summary: When a traveling magician turns Katara into a two year old again, Sokka and Aang know they are going to have trouble, but add little Katara's small obbsession with fire and a banished prince to the mix and nothing will ever be the same for the small group


Disclaimer: Little old me own Avatar; The Last Airbender? Maybe in my dreams…

AN: Woohoo a new fic! The writing bug has really bitten me and now I can't stop. Anyway, this little story is based of Rashaka's chapter six, Good Things, Small Packages, of _The Moon and The Sun_ which is a bunch of cute little drabbles which I've completely fallen in love with. So everyone who hasn't read her work, go read it and praise her, 'cause she's just amazing, (but only after you've read this of course. ) Thank you for the wonderful idea Rashaka, I hope you enjoy this!

Good Things, Small Packages

_Prologue_

_In a small ally, a young man sat. His long, almost white blonde hair was secured in a low ponytail, and the bangs flopped messily into his pale blue eyes. His skin was almost transparent and the blue veins underneath it popped out. His boney fingers plucked at the strings of an instrument lying across his lap and he hummed softly to himself as he did so. His clothes were red, but the color was barely visible because of the stains and dirt all over them. There was a brown scarf wrapped around his thin neck and every once in a while, he would pause in his humming and playing to itch where the scratchy material rubbed over his sensitive skin. At his side was a dog, old and stiff and blind in one eye. The dog lay with his head resting on his master's leg and would give a small woof every time the man plucked a high note on the instrument. His brown fur was matted and there were a few bald spots here and there, but the tail of the old dug thumped happily as he occasionally scratched flies and listened to his masters music. _

_Outside of the ally, people bustled through the market, buying food for their evening meals and stopping to catch each other up on the latest gossip. The young man caught words such as "engaged," or "affair" and even once, "pregnant". He stopped playing all together as a group of young girls paused to chatter to one another in hushed voices and a few gave a couple of squeals at the mention of somebody named Hukta. The dog at the man's side began to wag his tail more vigorously as the man scratched his ears and gave a wheezing woof of happiness as the man looked down at him, pale eyes meeting dark brown._

_"Is it our turn now, boy? Shall we go and show these people just how wonderful magic is?" The dog woofed in agreement and dragged himself to his old feet, trembling slightly, but none-the-less, he gave a couple of stiff little jumps as his master rose. "Yeah, I think so too." The man replied and a smile flickered over his thin lips._

_xXx_

_Appa lowed unhappily as he spiraled down from the sky. He was tired and they had been flying all day, there was no rest for the weary. Aang patted his big, scruffy head affectionately. "Don't worry Appa, we're landing now. See the town up there? That's where we'll stay tonight." Katara moved to look down on the small town from over Appa's shoulder._

_"It looks small." She stated, pulling back her hair to get a better look. "I hope we can find a place stay."_

"_Aang's the Avatar, these people will be happy to have him stay in their homes, they always are." Sokka replied as he worked a cloth up and down his boomerang to polish it. He held it up and inspected it. "Perfect." He tucked the weapon back into his belt. "The real question," Sokka continued, "is do they have good food. I've seen some pretty sketchy things that the Earth Kingdom eats, and there is no way I am eating any bugs." He crossed his arms and shuddered, face distorting in disgust at the memory._

_"We only had to eat bugs once, Sokka, and that was in a swamp. I don't think we'll find more giant bugs." Katara rolled her eyes and laughed as she crawled back to her spot by her brother. "Besides, you ate them readily enough."_

_Sokka scoffed. "I was hungry, I hadn't eaten in, what, a day and a half? I usually eat about every hour or two, you know that Katara." He pouted and then dug into his bag. "Where did I leave that jerky?"_

_Katara just shook her head and moved to sit up front near to Aang. "I hope the place we find will be nice, I would for once like to sleep on a real bed." Aang laughed in agreement. _

_"A real bed would be nice, and maybe we could even find a stable large enough for Appa to stay in, he deserves something nice too." Appa huffed in agreement as he touched down to the ground and then let his legs give out from under him flopping heavily onto his stomach. Aang leapt down from his large friend and helped Katara down after him. Sokka followed them and as he reached the ground he stretched and yawned. The sun behind the trio was beginning to set and their shadows were beginning to stretch, turning the three travelers into giants._

_"Let's get something to eat, I'm starving." Sokka sniffed the air. "That way, I smell food." Katara and Aang grinned at each other before they followed Sokka off on his quest for the food he had sniffed out. Trust Sokka to find the food first._

_The square of the town was wide and shops lined the edges, selling all kinds of objects. Clothing, jewelry, pillows, carpets, pets, hats, flowers, books, paint, food, many things Katara had never seen in her life before and many other things that were too numerous to count. However, many people weren't paying attention to any of these small shops, in fact, they were all gathered in the center of the square, and cheers would break from them every couple of minutes. Aang and Katara looked curiously at the crowd as Sokka searched through the stalls and then proceeded to haggle for the price of meat. Another round of cheering broke from the crowd and Aang looked questioningly up at Katara, waggling his eyebrows._

"_Why don't we go check it out?" He suggested and Katara nodded, following him over to the crowd, leaving Sokka to haggle on his own. The two kids pushed through the crowd until they managed to squeeze to the center of the tight circle._

_In the interior of the circle, a young man stood, his long white hair swirling around his face as he lifted an object in the air, showing the crowd. It was a square black box, most likely used for jewelry, there was nothing too special that Katara could see about it, but around her the crowd was transfixed, completely silent as they watched the man show off the box. _

"_What's going on?" Katara whispered to a man next to her. He looked down at her, brown eyes surprised._

"_Ain't you eva' seen magic done, girly?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. "This 'ere's a true magic man, seen 'im with his own eyes make objects disappear. Watch close now, 'ere he goes." The man fell silent and stared back at the man. Katara followed his gaze back to stare at the strange man in the center. His pale eyes were unfocused as he gazed straight ahead, and then with a sudden deep breath, he flicked his hand and the box disappeared. His eyes focused again, and Katara noticed that they were practically white, not just a pale blue. His skin matched his eyes, nearly translucent. _

_The crowd around them roared happily, chanting for more. Gold coins rained into the circle as the magician bowed politely. The man beside Katara grinned as his huge hands slapped together. _

"_See? What'd I tell ya, girly? That there's real magic." He whistled through his teeth as the man bowed and smiled. _

_Katara couldn't help but roll her eyes. That wasn't magic, it was just the illusion. The sleeves of the man were huge and wide, easily large enough for the small bow he had been holding before to slip down undetected. She turned to Aang to point this out, but he seemed to have assimilated to the crowd._

"_Yeah! More, More!" He leapt up and down; eyes alight with excitement and grinning like a mad man. Sokka pushed up to Katara._

"_Hey, what's going on?" He took a big bite of his meat._

"_This guy just made something disappear but…" she trailed off as Sokka's eyes grew large._

"_Like magic? Oh man, that is so cool!" He ripped off a piece of the paper bag he had given and pushed into the circle till he was next to the Magician. "I love magic, can I have your autograph?" He pleaded._

_The strange man laughed, his voice was soft and musical, and his hair bounced as he did so. "Of course kid." He flipped his hand and pen appeared in his palm. He grinned as Sokka's mouth dropped in amazement. " To whom shall I make it out too?"_

"_Sokka of the Water Tribe, that's spelled S…O…K…"_

"_Sokka, why do you want his autograph, the guy's a fraud." The noise of the crowd dwindled and all eyes fell on Katara. The magician looked up from the paper and fixed her with his pale blue eyes. _

"_Fraud?" He asked softly, handing the half finished autograph to Sokka and stepping forward to stand over Katara. Though she was not short, the magician was unusually tall and at the angle he titled his head, his pale blue eyes looked straight into hers. "I am no fraud, I am a magician. I use magic to make things appear and disappear, to change to appearance and nature of things. Is that what you call fraud?"_

_Katara shrugged uneasily "Ok, so you can make things disappear, but that's just an illusion, you just hide them. I mean, you can't really alter how things truly are, that's just a trick of the light or even perspective." She stated. The man continued to look at her curiously._

"_Katara, don't make him angry, I won't get an autograph if you do!" Sokka whined and pouted when Katara shot him a glare._

"_Illusions, huh?" The magician asked softly. "Alright, if they are just that, you wouldn't mind if I played a little magic trick, would you?"_

"_What kind of trick?"_

"_An illusion, nothing, more. I'm sure a smart girl like you will see right through it." _

_Katara looked hesitantly back at Aang who gave her the thumbs up. "Go on, it'll be fun," he urged her._

"_A-Alright. Sure, if it's an illusion, it'll be no problem." Katara muttered and waited. The man smiled softly._

"_Good girl. If I may ask, what is your name?"_

"_Katara."_

"_Katara. Tell me, did you enjoy your childhood?" The tall man asked as he circled her, bending so he didn't have to raise his voice over the soft lilt he kept it too._

_Katara shrugged. "I don't know it was all right. Why?"_

_The magician just chuckled and didn't answer her question. "All right Katara, here goes my little joke. Ready?" She nodded. The man took a deep breath and his eyes slid out of focus. Then his voice started, but it was different, it was no longer light, it was deep now. The language that filled the magician's mouth was not known to Katara and when she glanced backward to see if Aang understood, he just gave her a small shrug. He didn't know either. Katara slid her eyes back to focus on the magician, his voice was becoming louder now, and Katara could feel all of the eyes of all the villagers on her, and she shifted uncomfortably. Just what was this magician up too? A small ball of light began to form in the magician's hand and Katara stared in wonder. How on earth was he creating the illusion of light? She looked around, there were no mirrors that could be reflecting the sun's light, and even if there were, the sun was barely visible in the West, just a sliver remaining above land. The ball of light in the magician's hand glowed blue and silver, not the red the sun was giving off._

_Katara found herself staring into the small globe of light, even though the light was getting more intense by the second, and in the glow, Katara saw a little girl, she saw herself. And then the moment was gone and with a fluid motion, the magician reached forward and the second his hand lightly touched Katara's head, the ball of light disappeared immediately. A shiver passed through her body and that was it, and then a small tingle and Katara looked down at herself. Nothing had changed. She reached up to touch her face, nope, nothing different. _

_She looked at Sokka for a reaction, and he just looked confused. "What happened?" She asked._

"_Yeah? What did happen?" Sokka demanded. " I thought you were going to give her ears or a tail or at least something!" _

_The magician hid a smile by tilting his head forward so his long bangs flopped messily into his face. "You will see in time." He gave a soft whistle and an old dog that had been lying in the sunlight near by leapt up and trotted over, tail wagging forward. The crowd that had once surrounded the magician began to disperse, going about their normal evening activities, mother gathering their children and last minute shoppers haggling for the lowest price before the shops closed for the night. The magician picked up a couple coins people had tossed into the circle during his performance as the old dog wheezed at his side. Katara remained where she had been standing; an odd feeling had started to spread through her body. It wasn't especially uncomfortable, it just didn't feel normal and she wasn't sure whether her imagination was creating it or not. The magician saw her shivering slightly and he smiled. _

"_If you ever need to find me for any reason, my name is Enier." He pattered her on the shoulder and then gave a small bow to Sokka, who grumbled and waved him off. "Well, I see I must be going on my way. Farwell Katara, Sokka, Avatar," He gave Aang a small bow as well. "I hope that our paths may cross again some day." He looked them over once more, and then turned brusquely and walked away with his dog, loose clothes flapping slightly._

"_What a cheap guy. I guess you were right Katara, he was a fraud." Sokka sighed. "I wish he gave you ears or something. That would have been cool." Sokka smirked slightly at his mental image._

"_How did he know who I was?" Aang spoke up for the first time, staring after the man. "I didn't even say a word to him, and he knew I was the Avatar." Aang shifted uncomfortably. "Who was that guy?"_

"_He said his name was Enier, if we ever needed to find him." Katara said slowly, keeping her eyes on the spot where the magician had disappeared into the darkness. "What do you think he meant by that?" Katara asked, looking worriedly at Aang. "What if he really did do something to me?"_

_Sokka scoffed, "Please, you guys are over thinking this. Aang is the Avatar, they guy probably just went to one of the towns we've been too and heard about him, and then recognized him today. As for telling you his name, he probably just wanted to spread his fame. That guy was a fraud if I ever saw one."_

"_Don't forget, you were the one who wanted his autograph, Sokka." Katara snapped pointedly. "I originally said he was a fake."_

"_Well you were getting all worked up about it, I just wanted to reassure you!" Sokka snapped back._

"_Woah, guys, come on, let's not fight." Aang held up his arms, nervously stepping between the fighting siblings. "We're all tired, let's just find somewhere to eat and rest for the night, and in the morning we can forget all about this." Aang reasoned carefully, not wanting to cause any more anger to spark in their small group. _

"_Yeah, fine." Sokka backed down from the glaring match that had sprung up between Katara and himself. "I'm hungry, where's the nearest inn?" _

"_You just bought meat, what happened to that?" Katara asked as she too grudgingly ended the bickering match._

"_Did I?" Sokka thought for a moment. "Oh yeah, I ate that. Still, where can we get food?" Aang laughed, and even Katara gave a small smile. _

"_It looks like a lot of people are hanging out around that building down there, why don't we go check it out? Aang pointed down the street to where a bunch for people had gathered around a door where light was spilling. _

"_Yeah, looks like a good a spot as any." Sokka agreed and started off in the direction of the voices. Katara and Aang followed him happily, but Katara couldn't get rid of the tingle that had started at the back of her neck. _

_Dinner ate the inn was a nice change from the food they usually made over the fire (and t hat ended up being burnt more than half of the time,) and even though Katara ate a lot, her clothes were comfortably loose. Their room was spacious too, and Katara happily dived under the covers, pulling them up to her chin. "Goodnight guys." She mumbled, sleepy and full. She barely heard their replies before she drifted off to sleep._

_xXx_

_The early morning sun woke Sokka as if drifted brightly though their open window. The Water Tribe boy stretched once and then crossed his arms comfortably behind his head. It was too early to actually get up, but too late to go back to sleep. The boy's loose hair flopped around his face and he pulled it back in annoyance, his blue eyes surveying the small room. Aang was sprawled across his bed, covers thrown every which way. His mouth was open and his tongue hung out as he snored loudly. Sokka smirked at the sight; that was definitely Aang. On the other side of the room, Katara lay, still under her covers. Her form was small under the blankets, and Sokka realized she must have curled up to keep warm. A bird chirped outside the window and Sokka pushed himself up out of his bed. He pulled his hair up and deftly tied it and then pulled on his shirt. He took a moment to pause and breath in the fresh air before starting the task of waking his sister and friend. _

_Aang had always been easy to wake up, his endless energy triggered the second his eyes opened, and then he was up, helping clean up the room, and starting to chatter about their plans for the day. Katara on the other hand was a problem. She liked her sleep and sometimes went as far as to hit Sokka to get him to stop bothering her about getting up,_

_Sokka approached her bed carefully; ready to leap backward if Katara chose to react violently. _

"_Katara, time to get up," Sokka murmured as he crouched by her bed. "Come on Katara," He reached to pull back the covers that had been brought up over her face. He pulled them off with a flourish and then squawked. Underneath the covers was a small child, short brown hair braided like his sisters had been, and her thumb was lightly resting between her lips. At the sound of his voice, big blue eyes opened sleepily and she looked up at the boy above her. _

"_Sokka, how come you make so much noise?" She asked with a yawn, chubby hands coming up to rub the sleep from her eyes. Sokka merely gaped at her, mouth working up and down, but no noise managed to come from his throat. _

_Aang stuck his head around Sokka's shoulder to inspect the small child. "Sokka, what happened to Katara? Who is this kid?" He asked, coming around to inspect her further. _

"_Aang, that_ is_ Katara. Or at least that was Katara twelve years ago." Sokka finally unstuck his throat. _

_Aang looked up at him in surprise. "Twelve years ago? You mean Katara's…"_

"_Yeah, she's two years old again." _

_The child on the bed giggled._

(AN; please review and tell me what you guys think. Until next time,

cookiesandmilk)


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